1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved knockdown reel of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,841 by the same inventor, which is herein incorporated by reference. The reels comprise a two part tubular hub of predetermined length having latch members on opposite ends thereof engagable with recesses formed in disc-like flanges located at opposite ends of the hub. The knockdown reels may be shipped once the reel has been emptied in knocked down or disassembled condition for purposes of compactness, thereby encouraging reuse and reducing shipping cost. Up to the present time, the prior invention has not met with commercial success as assembly sometimes proved to be difficult. Thus, the present invention has set out to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art. The difficulty in this industry has been the designing of latching means which permit ready assembly of end flanges to the opposite ends of a tubular hub without struggling to align the components and guide the latching means into locking engagement, while also permitting disengagement of the flanges from the tubular hub so that the components could be returned, for example, to the supplier of strand or ribbon like material normally merchandised upon such reels and thus provide certain economies.
Reels of the type to which the present invention pertains are consumed in large quantities by manufacturers and users of strand material such as electric wiring, both insulated and non-insulated, coils of long strips of connected elements formed on punch presses and the like such as partially formed electric contact elements, strips or ribbons of foil type material of such nature as to require being coiled upon reels having end flanges for protection, and many other types of similar products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Patents pertaining to so called knockdown types of reels are minimal and the most relevant prior art known to the inventor is his prior patent discussed above.